But I do think it shows a "mandate" for whatever that is worth in that it is a clear victory relative to American elections in general. And conservatives shouldn't be able to claim it was a "close" election as reasoning not to enact the agenda Biden ran on.
i would hardly call 3% difference a mandate. This election just proved that, despite the entirety of pop-culture being anti-trump, we are still torn as a nation. Despite how crazy and self-destructive trump is, nearly half of the voters still voted for him.
I generally agree with you in that in this country no federally elected official ever has a clear mandate because of the two-party polarization. I guess the point was that if you believe in mandates then this is a strong win that deserves one. It will be 4-5% before it's done, second biggest of the last six elections. So if you ever use the argument that elected officials should get to put in place their policies because they won their elections then you of course should allow that here.
And while I was for more restraint during the Obama administration I think the norm-breaking and power grabbing by Republicans in the Senate since then means that anything legal goes now.
- Get rid of filibuster? Good.
- Pass legislation with 50 votes and the VP? Do it if you need to and can.
- Expand the court? Sure. I prefer by 2 to go back to the us quo from before the Garland/Barrett gambit but if they want to go 4 then it's just as "ok" as what McConnell did.
On the other hand many of the norms that Trump and his administration specifically broke I do hope come back. Like I don't need Presidents to violate the Hatch Act every ten minutes and political hirings and firings for non-political executive branch offices is not something I want to see continue.
Stop analyzing so much and just enjoy the fucking show.
Ok fine... in honor of Jake I will stop and laugh at the total absurdity of the Trump campaign setting up a press conference at the Four Seasons, only to somehow end up doing it in the parking lot of a random business called Four Seasons Total Landscaping instead of at the hotel. That shit is so fucking hilarious I just can't